We are so excited to welcome the newest yarn to our lineup: it's soft, fluffy, light, and we think you'll love it. Here's Billow.
Billow combines the structure of a Pima cotton chainette tube with the soft fuzziness of unspun baby alpaca for a super-soft, warm, and fluffy finish.
We are calling this a worsted weight yarn, but because of the loftiness you can work Billow successfully at a variety of gauges. We're envisioning lightweight warm sweaters and cozy accessories in this yarn.
We also love that Billow is all natural fibers. Cotton doesn't take up dye the same way animal fibers do, so you'll see highlights of the tube peek through, especially on darker colorways.
As you can see below, the cotton chainette is like a tiny knitted tube, filled and surrounded by a halo of alpaca fibers.
Each skein of Billow is 320 yards and 100 grams, and is 51% Baby Alpaca, 49% Pima Cotton.
How are the colors?
Each of our yarns takes dye a little differently, due to the different fiber types and processing. We weren’t sure how Billow was going to look, but it turns out that for most of our colorways, Billow will appear very similar to our wool yarns. The alpaca takes up color well. Shown below are Moss, Fig, and Chirp.
How is Billow different to Moonglow?
For those of you who don't like or can't use mohair, Billow can be a great alternative to knitting with a silk-mohair laceweight held together with a fingering weight yarn, as many patterns call for. However, Billow is much thicker and fluffier than Moonglow alone, and won't have the gloss and shine from the silk. Shown below are Billow and Moonglow in Forever, Lotus, and Turkey Red.
What's special about Alpaca fiber?
Alpaca wool is lightweight, soft, and hollow, making it a great insulator. It has less memory than sheep's wool, and no lanolin. While neither cotton nor alpaca are particularly elastic fibers, the chainette construction helps stitches keep their shape.
Coming soon: project ideas for Billow!
We can't wait to see what you create with this yarn.